Table of Contents • 24th conscientious objector jailed since 2018 • Two jailed brothers, two second convictions • Two years in prison for two Jehovah’s Witnesses objecting to military service • Raids, fines for religious meetings • Conscientious objector jailed after second conviction • First 2020 conscientious objector jailing • Raids, searches, fines, threats, beatings, headscarf bans • Situation of Jehovah’s Witnesses 24th conscientious objector jailed since 2018 A court in Mary Region jailed 18-year-old Myrat Orazgeldiyev for one year on 3 September, the 24th Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector to military service to be imprisoned since January 2018. Eleven – including Orazgeldiyev – are now jailed, eight of them at the harsh Seydi Labour Camp, where a former prisoner of conscience described conditions as "inhuman". All 24 young men offered to do an alternative civilian service, but none exists. By Felix Corley Forum 18 (11.09.2020) - https://bit.ly/3hWALdR - A court in Mary Region of eastern Turkmenistan handed down a one-year jail term to 18-year-old Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector to military service Myrat Orazgeldiyev on 3 September. He had told the Military Conscription Office he was ready to do an alternative civilian service, but Turkmenistan has rejected repeated United Nations calls to introduce such a service. He is appealing against his conviction to Mary Regional Court. Orazgeldiyev's jailing brings to five the number of conscientious objectors to military service, all Jehovah's Witnesses, known to have been imprisoned so far in 2020. It also brings to 24 the number of known criminal convictions and jailings for conscientious objection since January 2018 (see below). Jehovah's Witnesses are conscientious objectors to military service and do not undertake any kind of activity supporting any country's military. But they are willing to undertake an alternative, totally civilian form of service, as is the right of all conscientious objectors to military service under international human rights law. The sentences handed down to Orazgeldiyev brings to 11 the number of conscientious objectors to compulsory military service known - as of 11 September 2020 - to be serving sentences. All of them are Jehovah's Witnesses. Three of them are serving second sentences (see full list below). On 1 September, Dashoguz Regional Court rejected the appeals by two brothers – 26- year-old Sanjarbek Saburov and 21-year-old brother Eldor Saburov – against their two- Human Rights Without Frontiers FoRB Newsletter | Turkmenistan year jail sentences for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience, handed down on 6 August (see below). Including Eziz Dovletmuradovich Atabayev (born 15 March 1998), who has been serving a jail term since 2018, 11 Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are serving jail terms of between one and four years. Eight of them are imprisoned in Seydi Labour Camp in the eastern Lebap Region, and the two Saburov brothers and Orazgeldiyev are expected to be transferred to the same labour camp (see full list below). Turkmenistan has ignored repeated international calls, for example by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, to introduce a genuine civilian alternative to compulsory military service, to stop prosecuting and punishing conscientious objectors, and to compensate those it has punished. The telephone of the regime-appointed Chair of the Mejlis (Parliament) Human Rights Committee Yusupguly Eshshayev went unanswered between 2 and 11 September. The official who answered the phone at the office of the regime-appointed Human Rights Ombudsperson Yazdursun Gurbannazarova on 2 September refused to put Forum 18 through or to answer Forum 18's questions. Asked why the regime is not willing to introduce a civilian alternative service in line with repeated United Nations (UN) recommendations, and why young men continue to be imprisoned, Ata (last name unknown) of the Foreign Ministry's International Organisations Department told Forum 18 in August that Turkmenistan "is dealing with these bodies, including the UN". He said he did not agree that Turkmenistan was failing to implement UN human rights recommendations (see below). The UN Human Rights Committee has published 13 Decisions in favour of 15 conscientious objectors from Turkmenistan, all of them Jehovah's Witnesses (see below). Another Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector former prisoner, Arslan Begenchov, lodged a case to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2018 and is awaiting a decision (see below). Jehovah's Witnesses filed a complaint with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention In May 2020 on behalf of 19 current or former jailed conscientious objectors. The 19 men are the eight currently imprisoned in Seydi Labour Camp, plus others who have been released after serving earlier sentences (see below). Other prisoners of conscience jailed for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief – all of them Muslims – are serving far longer jail terms (see below). Refuses military service, ready to do alternative The Military Conscription Office in Mary Region summoned Myrat Baymukhammedovich Orazgeldiyev (born 6 May 2002) in June 2020, one month after his 18th birthday. He provided his written statement refusing military service on grounds of conscience and asking to perform an alternative civilian service, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. On 1 July, three representatives of the military tried to take Orazgeldiyev from his home. He refused to go with them. Later that day, he underwent a medical examination. He was found to be fit for military service. The Prosecutor's Office summoned Orazgeldiyev for questioning on 14 July. Prosecutors charged him under Article 219, Part 1 of the Criminal Code. This punishes refusal to Human Rights Without Frontiers FoRB Newsletter | Turkmenistan serve in the armed forces in peacetime with a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment or two years' corrective labour. Orazgeldiyev received a copy of the indictment on 20 August. Prosecutors handed the case to Vekilbazar District Court, several kilometres to the east of the city of Mary. Jailed for one year On 3 September Judge Nursahet Yusupov at Vekilbazar District Court convicted Orazgeldiyev and sentenced him to one year's imprisonment in an ordinary regime labour camp under Criminal Code Article 219, Part 1, a court official told Forum 18 on 11 September. "The hearing was conducted by the judge who was wearing a mask and spoke in a very low voice," Jehovah's Witnesses noted. "Only 5 to 7 persons were allowed to enter. Since they were sitting at the back of the court room, they were not able to hear everything that was said." Orazgeldiyev is appealing against his conviction to Mary Regional Court. A court official told Forum 18 on 11 September that no appeal has yet been received. "As an only child in a family, Orazgeldiyev worked hard to support his family financially, working as a waiter," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. "Besides, he helps his disabled mother a lot. Undoubtedly, his imprisonment would be a heavy burden for his family, especially in current critical circumstances amid the pandemic." Brothers' appeals rejected Jehovah's Witness Sanjarbek Davranbekovich Saburov (born 12 August 1994), from the northern city of Dashoguz, and his younger brother Eldor Davranbekovich Saburov (born 9 April 1999) have lost their appeals against their convictions for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Both had told the Military Conscription Office that they were prepared to undertake an alternative, civilian service. On 1 September, Dashoguz Regional Court rejected the Saburov brothers' appeals, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. The official who answered the phone at Dashoguz Regional Court on 4 September refused to discuss the cases with Forum 18. On 6 August, Niyazov District Court in Dashoguz Region jailed the then 25-year-old Sanjarbek Saburov and his 21-year-old brother Eldor Saburov under Criminal Code Article 219, Part 1. Each was handed the maximum punishment of a two-year jail term for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. For both brothers, this is their second criminal conviction on the same charges. The Saburov brothers were arrested in the courtroom at the end of their trial and were taken to the Temporary Detention Prison (DZ-E/7) in Dashoguz Region, from where they lodged their appeals. Now their appeals have been rejected, they are expected to be transferred to the labour camp at Seydi, where the other eight jailed conscientious objectors are all being held. Brothers' earlier convictions For both Sanjarbek and Eldor Saburov, their 2020 convictions were the second on the same charges. Sanjarbek Saburov refused military service during the spring 2016 call-up. On 17 July 2016 he was placed in preventive detention while awaiting trial. On 9 August 2016, a Human Rights Without Frontiers FoRB Newsletter | Turkmenistan Judge handed him a two-year suspended sentence under Criminal Code Article 219, Part 1. He was released in the courtroom after more than three weeks' detention. In 2017, Eldor Saburov similarly refused to undertake military service on grounds of conscience. On 19 December 2017, Niyazov District Court sentenced him under Criminal Code Article 219, Part 1 to two years' corrective labour, with 20 per cent of his wages taken by the State. Like the Saburov brothers, many other conscientious objectors have been convicted twice on the same charges when they continue to refuse renewed call-up to compulsory military service after completing their first sentences. In February 2020, Vepa Bahromovich Matyakubov (born 19 August 1998), a Jehovah's Witness from the northern Dashoguz Region's ethnic Uzbek minority, was convicted for a second time for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. He was given a two-year jail term. In February 2017 he had been convicted under Criminal Code Article 219, Part 1 for refusing military service. The sentence allowed him to live at home under restrictions, but during the two years the state took 20 per cent of his wages.